Reducing immigration can make America safer
By Yeh Ling-Ling
Published by the New Hampshire Union Leader, February 6, 2005.
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In his State of Union speech, President Bush vowed to “build a better world for our children and grandchildren,” and to “keep America the economic leader of the world.” But his immigration proposal, if adopted, will have unintended opposite results.
Since the President announced his defacto immigration plan a year ago, illegal immigration has skyrocketed. Time magazine estimated last September that 3 million illegal aliens would enter this country in 2004 alone. Last December, Barron’s reported that this country’s illegal immigration population was estimated to be 18 to 20 million and that the U.S. underground economy, fueled “largely by the nation’s swelling ranks of low-wage illegal immigrants,” was approaching $1 trillion.
Yet, part of President Bush’s defacto amnesty plan would substantially increase the incoming flow of low-skilled workers. His proposal would reward millions of foreign nationals who have broken our immigration laws by granting them temporary work visas and, subsequently, U.S. citizenship. Once naturalized, legalized migrants could petition for their extended families to immigrate to the United States, thus adding unlimited numbers of mostly low-skilled workers to burden our economy and government budgets.
President Bush argues that immigrants take jobs that Americans aren’t willing to do. But in areas with low levels of immigration, low-income Americans still hold low-end positions. Furthermore, this country still has millions of unemployed and underemployed low-skilled legal residents as well as able-bodied welfare recipients. Why aren’t they given incentives to take those jobs?
To “keep America the economic leader of the world,” as the President promised, we need to drastically reduce low-skilled immigration because our high-tech economy requires a highly skilled workforce to prosper. Also, the “No Child Left Behind” policy should apply only to legal resident students: American children are reportedly falling behind in education compared to those in many European and Asian countries, in part because many schools nationwide are overwhelmed with students speaking little to no English. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 21 percent of elementary and high school students in 2003 had at least one foreign-born parent.
President Bush said he wants to “make health care more affordable.” Yet, hospitals in many states are on the verge of bankruptcy due to the health care they are required by law to provide to illegal immigrants. According to the Census Bureau’s 2003 Current Population Survey, immigrants arriving since 1998 and their U.S.-born children accounted for 95 percent of the growth of the uninsured population in this country. Millions of existing illegal migrant workers — and their family members arriving here in the future under President Bush’s plan — would make health costs soar.
Our porous borders also jeopardize the safety of Americans. In December, CNN reported that stolen passports from non-Arab countries had been used by many foreign travelers to successfully enter this country. Furthermore, 80 U.S. Border Patrol agents have been attacked since October 1 along the Arizona-Mexico border by alien and drug smugglers, according to the Washington Times. And more than a quarter of the inmates in our federal prisons are illegal aliens who committed crimes. The Bush Administration reportedly expects to hire 10 percent of the Border Patrol agents recommended by the new intelligence reform legislation. Meanwhile, the President is asking Congress to fund an additional $80 billion for the war in Iraq.
Clearly, spending nearly $300 billion on Iraq will not protect homeland security while millions of illegal aliens, including criminals and terrorists, continue to enter the United States. Gen. Tommy Franks, former U.S. commander of the war in Iraq, has stated that “any nation that wants to control its borders can do so.”
The Bush administration should seriously enforce our immigration laws. In addition to adding border patrol agents, President Bush and Congress should send a firm and unequivocal message that present and future illegal aliens will not be given temporary work permits or permanent residency. New federal legislation should deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States of illegal immigrant parents and make it illegal to grant benefits to illegal aliens. Also, as our law enforcement agencies are overwhelmed, drastically reducing legal immigration would allow them to focus on intercepting terrorists at the border and rooting out those operating on U.S. soil.
Drastic immigration reduction alone will not build a safe and strong America, but maintaining current rates of immigration or adopting the Bush plan will assure this country’s downhill slide.
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